Carlos Glidden (1834-1877)

Carlos Glidden (November 8, 1834 – March 11, 1877), along with Christopher Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, and Samuel W. Soule, invented the first practical typewriter at a machine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He kept on improving the typewriter until he died.

Born in Scioto County, Ohio. He attended Cincinnati Business College and the Univ. of Pittsburgh and studied law in Cincinnati and Milwaukee. In 1858 he settled in Milwaukee, where he invented a steam-driven rotary plow, a mechanical spader, and several typewriters, including an intermediate lever machine. In 1868, with C. L. Sholes (q.v.), S. W. Soule, and M. Schwalbach, he helped devise and construct the world's first commercial typewriter. He later sold his interest in the invention to Sholes, but continued to advise him and also helped construct later models. In 1872 court action awarded him a one-tenth interest in the 1868 invention. R. N. Current, Typewriter (Urbana, 1954); G. W. Chamberlain, comp., and L. A. Strong, ed., Descendants of C. Glidden (Boston, 1925); Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar. 12, 1877.